According to data from Card Ladder cited by Fortune, the typical Pokémon card has outperformed the S&P 500 by nearly eight times over a 20-year span
WILMINGTON, DE, UNITED STATES, August 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Over the last two decades, the average Pokémon card has climbed 3,261 percent, based on Card Ladder pricing data featured by Fortune, marking the strongest long-term growth among all card categories monitored. In contrast, the S&P 500 recorded a total return of 421 percent during that same period.
Card Ladder is a platform that monitors trading card sales on major marketplaces. The 20-year comparison originates from data the company supplied to Fortune for a July 2025 article by Preston Fore, which explored why Gen Z and millennial men increasingly view cards as an alternative investment. In that dataset, Pokémon topped every tracked category, while football, basketball, and baseball cards also surpassed the index over the same timeframe.
The one-year outlook was even more dramatic. As of the July 2025 report, the average Pokémon card was appreciating at roughly 46 percent annually, a rate exceeding the S&P 500’s typical annual return of 12 percent and also outperforming major technology stocks over that period.
A Record Sale Sets a New High
The market’s upper limit reached a fresh milestone this year. In February 2026, YouTuber and entrepreneur Logan Paul auctioned his PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator for $16,492,000 , including buyer’s premium, setting a new record for the most expensive trading card ever sold, according to Fortune. Paul had acquired the card in 2022 for $5.3 million, then the highest price ever paid in a private sale.
The gap between those two transactions encapsulates a period when trading cards entered the same conversation as other unconventional assets that Fortune reports Gen Z investors now pursue, such as cryptocurrency and designer handbags. The key difference: the card market’s flagship deal tripled in value in under four years, publicly, with the sale price documented.
Demand Expands Into Mainstream Retail
Indications of demand now extend far beyond auction houses. Recent reports and corporate disclosures reveal a category operating at retail scale:
eBay users searched “Pokemon” roughly 14,000 times per hour in 2024 (Adam Ireland, VP and GM of global collectibles at eBay, to Fortune)
Total gross merchandise value of cards sold on eBay increased for nine consecutive quarters (Fortune)
Collectibles, including trading cards, accounted for 29 percent of GameStop’s total sales in its fiscal first quarter, exceeding video game software (GameStop)
Walmart and Target temporarily restricted or halted trading card sales during the 2021 surge (Fortune, citing NBC News)
The adjacent sports card segment also contributes significant scale, generating over $1 billion in annual sales revenue according to SkyQuest Technology, and GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has described trading cards as a natural fit for the retailer’s existing operations.
Supply is struggling to keep up. Pokemon Company International is “printing at maximum capacity” for current expansions, according to Barry Sams, the company’s vice president of game development, who spoke to Fortune. Sams added that collectors who grew up with the franchise are now introducing it to their children, spreading demand across generations rather than focusing it in one age group.
The Pack-Opening Experience Goes Digital
Meanwhile, a core hobby tradition—the pack opening itself—is moving to online platforms. CardOutpost, a digital Pokémon card pack-opening service run by Arcade Processing LLC, allows collectors to open packs online and then either request physical shipment of the cards they pull (subject to availability) via a US-based warehouse, or sell them back to the platform for 100 percent of the displayed fair market value minus a handling fee. Displayed values are determined using third-party market data and historical sales, with the median price employed to keep valuations accurate. If a shipped item is a graded card, the platform delivers a physical card matching the same card and grade from the same grading company.
“Collectibles have earned a place in the alternative-asset discussion, and the next step is accessibility,” said a CardOutpost spokesperson. “People want the pack-opening experience to be as instant as the market data they follow, without sacrificing the actual card in hand at the end.”
Collectors can open Pokémon packs on CardOutpost at tiers ranging from $25 to $2,500 per pack, with maximum pulls between $250 and $25,000.
What the Averages Do and Do Not Indicate
The headline figures come with acknowledged caveats. Fortune notes that cards must be rare and in mint condition to yield significant profits, and financial analysts reviewing the Card Ladder comparison have observed that aggregate collectibles indexes are built from graded, high-condition sales rather than from the typical unopened pack stored in a closet. The 20-year figure reflects the tracked market’s overall trend, not a guaranteed return for any specific card.
That distinction has done little to slow the category. Two decades of pricing data, a publicly recorded sale, and ongoing retail shortages paint a picture of a collectibles market that has evolved from a nostalgia-driven purchase into a monitored asset class, with the index still trending upward.
About CardOutpost
Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, CardOutpost is a digital Pokémon card pack-opening platform operated by Arcade Processing LLC, dedicated to bringing the pack-opening moment online while delivering real, sealed cards to collectors. Users buy digital booster packs across seven price levels and then choose either physical shipment of pulled cards from a US-based warehouse or a sell-back at the displayed fair market value. Pack values are based on third-party market data and historical sales.
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